The 75-minute session had just restarted after a 10min yellow for a track inspection, when IndyCar’s only driver/owner lost the tail end of the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet, spun and slapped the outside wall with the left side of the car. The closely following Will Power and Tony Kanaan had just time to brake hard, and avoid the debris by ducking down the pitlane.

Carpenter was able to step out of the car unaided and was quickly checked and released by IndyCar Medical, but his participation in this afternoon’s qualifying session is now under question.

IndyCar decided to add an extra seven minutes to the session, and Marco Andretti’s best lap of 41.1267 lap in the Andretti Autosport-Honda – an average speed of 218.836mph around the tri-oval – soon came under fire, with teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay eventually eclipsing him to go top with a 219.268mph lap.

Not long after, with fewer than 10mins left in the session, Ed Jones spun his Dale Coyne Racing-Honda at Turn 2, lightly kissing the wall with his nosecone.

That left little more than four minutes in the session, and although Andretti swiftly hit the track, he couldn’t quite find the pace to reestablish himself at the top of the times. Instead, Hunter-Reay’s closest challenge came from reigning champion Simon Pagenaud, whose Team Penske #1 entry was the only Chevy-powered car in the top eight, on 219.211mph.

Third fastest was Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda of Tony Kanaan, with Andretti eventually winding up fourth, just ahead of the second Ganassi entry of Scott Dixon.

Takuma Sato and Alexander Rossi ensured all four Andretti cars were in the top 10, while Graham Rahal was eighth just ahead of the second Penske of Helio Castroneves.

The surprise of the session was Gabby Chaves, in only the third event for Harding Racing-Chevrolet. The 2014 Indy Lights champion was 10^th fastest, continuing the team’s great work that saw them finish ninth in the Indy 500 and fifth at Texas Motor Speedway.

Defending Pocono 500 winner, Penske’s Will Power, was only 17^th, just behind oval rookie Esteban Gutierrez in the second Coyne car. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports – which earned pole position last year with the now deposed Mikhail Aleshin – was only 16^th and 19^th. However, this put them ahead of current points leader, Josef Newgarden, in the fourth Penske-Chevy.

IndyCar FP1, Pocono

Cla	#	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	39	41.0456			219.268
2	1	Simon Pagenaud	29	41.0563	0.0107	0.0107	219.211
3	10	Tony Kanaan	28	41.0658	0.0202	0.0095	219.160
4	27	Marco Andretti	38	41.1267	0.0811	0.0609	218.836
5	9	Scott Dixon	31	41.2005	0.1549	0.0738	218.444
6	26	Takuma Sato	32	41.2118	0.1662	0.0113	218.384
7	98	Alexander Rossi	35	41.2265	0.1809	0.0147	218.306
8	15	Graham Rahal	38	41.3342	0.2886	0.1077	217.737
9	3	Helio Castroneves	39	41.3517	0.3061	0.0175	217.645
10	88	Gabby Chaves	39	41.4209	0.3753	0.0692	217.282
11	21	J.R. Hildebrand	35	41.4262	0.3806	0.0053	217.254
12	8	Max Chilton	38	41.4483	0.4027	0.0221	217.138
13	83	Charlie Kimball	40	41.4659	0.4203	0.0176	217.046
14	14	Carlos Munoz	32	41.4962	0.4506	0.0303	216.887
15	20	Ed Carpenter	22	41.5101	0.4645	0.0139	216.815
16	5	James Hinchcliffe	29	41.5255	0.4799	0.0154	216.734
17	18	Esteban Gutierrez	33	41.5301	0.4845	0.0046	216.710
18	12	Will Power	30	41.5893	0.5437	0.0592	216.402
19	7	Sebastian Saavedra	43	41.7051	0.6595	0.1158	215.801
20	2	Josef Newgarden	31	41.9038	0.8582	0.1987	214.778
21	4	Conor Daly	38	41.9099	0.8643	0.0061	214.746
22	19	Ed Jones	33	42.2675	1.2219	0.3576	212.930